"Ah." The brown-eyed boy sighed in pity. "That's a poor outlook. Flawed even."
His statement got every single student interested, wanting to know why he said so. After all, wasn't it the natural law for the strong to prey on the weak?
Liam said seriously, "We get to measure a person's value by their position, power, wealth, even. However, aren't we all humans? There should be a sense of equality. Where everyone has a fair chance at getting what they want. No special privileges or anything. Right?"
The hall fell silent, deep in thoughts. At least until Vice-president Eren laughed.
"You're truly a wonderful junior, Liam." He smiled, resting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "My view, however, is quite the opposite. I believe in meritocracy—where power rules. Without a higher power, there would be no order. And how do you make weak people; the natural prey, equal to the strong; the predators?"
With this question, Liam fell silent.
'I will. I can sense it. That is what my ability is be about.'
He didn't say what was in his mind, though. After all, he was too minuscule in the grand scheme of things.
"It's all right if you can't answer." Eren perceived his silence as a quiet admission and smiled, then turned to Iruca.
"You aren't going to talk?"
Iruca's shoulders stiffened, and she avoided his gaze. "No. I just feel like it's a problem that needs to be addressed. Unfortunately, we don't have enough influence to change such things."
Austin nodded, agreeing with her.
"You guys are interesting. How about joining the Debate Club?" Eren smiled lightly.
"I'm uninterested in such verbal skirmishes. There is no real fun in them." Adela sneered, unfazed.
"Well, I was just joking. Now then, is anyone ready to give their answers?"
The five students looked at each other, then shook their heads in unison.
"Still not sure? Let's continue talking then…" Eren smiled widely as he sat between Adela and Iruca, and crossed his legs.
.....
Across the hall, several students were discussing the identity of the VIPs, speculating who it could be.
Standing in a quiet corner, Ariel Hilton pondered deeply.
'I don't have enough evidence. However, judging by their expressions and reactions, I'm confident that Austin M'banna is a VIP. He was the first to speak—definately out of tension. And Iruca, she's definitely the second. Isn't she?'
Although it only required a little bit of effort, Ariel was able to single out the two VIPs because of a single reason. Iruca Sanders appeared to be someone who deeply loved making friends with others. However, she was unusually reserved and wary. Austin was equally reserved. Even though he started the conversation, he never spoke a word again, only occasionally nodding.
So although Ariel Hilton didn't possess enough evidence, he was sure of his guess.
At their table, Mordica and Hazel racked their brains over who the VIPs were while Kaiser rested his chin on the table, uninterested.
"Kaiser, who do you think the VIPs are?"
Seeing his slothful behavior, Mordica decided to probe him.
Kaiser lazily opened an eye and gave a vague answer. "It could be anyone."
Inwardly, though, he already knew the answer.
'Haa… this Eren guy is indeed shrewd. Picking both Iruca Sanders and Austin M'banna. A contrasting pair. Liam was right when he claimed Apollo's reasoning was flawed. Eren doesn't seem like one to play by the standard rules.'
Kaiser didn't even bother trying to study the five students like Ariel did. Instead, he could already read Eren's intentions from the start of the game. His main goal was to sow a seed of competitiveness among the five classes.
'Goodness gracious… does that mean there would be competitions in the future? To decide what class ranks higher?'
Although Kaiser only thought about this intuitively, he was a 100% sure he was right. After all, his intuition never failed him.
Before long, the thirty minutes ran out and each student was to write down their suspects.
Moments later, Eren smiled after assessing their answers and said,
"As expected of Class-A. Lincoln girl, you won this game." He winked at the lilac haired loli. "The two VIPs are Iruca Sanders... and Austin M'banna."
The hall erupted into cheers when someone guessed the two VIPs correctly, continually praising her intelligence and insight.
On the stage, Adela bowed gracefully, unfazed by the attention.
"Well, I hope it was fun. I'll leave you guys to enjoy your night." Eren smiled. "Welcome once again to Pegasus Will."
As the hall gradually shifted back into soft chatting and laughter, Ariel eyed Eren's departing figure suspiciously.
'As expected of Class-A? What does that mean?'
He asked inwardly. Though, he had pretty much guessed the answer.
Meanwhile, Kaiser only smirked faintly as he ordered more food.
'Interesting~'
.....
Hours later, the night party ended with the sleepy and drunk students groggily trotting towards the school dorms.
The next morning, several students arrived late to class, still sleepy. And although they were late, the instructors didn't say a word, only resuming their lessons after a slight pause.
During class, some bold students like Logan from Class-E even slept while others, mostly females slacked off with their phones.
Even then, the instructors remained silent.
This deeply unsettled Liam who was already suspicious of the academy. Wasn't this the institution meant to train elite Awakened? Now they were even allowing students to slack off? No regular school would allow that. Unless there were penalties in which they were unaware of.
'Could it be true? There are penalties?'
Liam's expression grew increasingly serious as he began connecting the dots. Seniors spending frugally, sometimes wishing they had enough credits to afford some things, even to the point of eating free food in the cafeteria.
'That's it. They're going to reduce our credits. Instructor Rina never said we'd receive a hundred thousand credits every month. She simply said our credits would be paid every first day of the month.'
Liam almost stood up in shock. The school... had maintained a neutral stance. But then, why did it feel like the entire academy was smiling at their ignorance?